Through the Looking Glass
by Sesquipedalia
Summary: You didn't honestly think it was over, did you?
1. Chapter 1

_We both knew, at the end of Coraline's tale, it wasn't over. There were too many loose ends; after all, didn't the Other Mother survive? Given enough time, her hand could reassemble itself and climb out of the well with the key, right?_

_Wrong. _

_Sure, it_ could _happen, but the Other Mother hadn't eaten in seven decades. She was beyond starvation, and incredibly, incredibly weak. Why, it was a miracle the Other World lasted as long as it had! Time was what the Beldam's hand needed, and time was what the Beldam didn't have. She died exactly one week after Coraline and Wybie had thrown the key and the hand down the well, her body dissolving into dust and her button eyes returning to the darkness from whence they came. The Other World faded to little more than a cobweb in the fabric of the Universe, the tunnel collapsing and leaving that queer door in the wall little more than what it had always been: a queer door in the wall._

_At least, until I came along. _

_Mother would've been proud of me._

* * *

"You did _what_?"

"I got you out of sewing."

"But _how_?" Coraline's mouth was wide with shock.

Wybie scratched the back of his neck, "Well, I knew you were dreading that part of the class, so I talked to Mrs. Newman about it, and she said she could find something else for you to do."

"What'd you tell her?"

Wybie grinned, "The truth."

One of Coraline's eyebrows rose, very clearly questioning her companion's sanity. Wybie told _Mrs. Newman _she was afraid of needles because a spider-lady who lived in another world through the little bricked-up door in the wall tried to sew buttons in her eyes so she could eat her soul? And Mrs. Newman _believed it_?

"I said you had a traumatic experience when you were littler. All it took were a few puppy dog looks and she was sold."

"Sweet! Thanks, Wybie!" She threw her arms around him, a deep blush that went unnoticed by Coraline blossoming on his face as she pulled away. "Hey, you want to hang out with me and Esther later?"

The blush vanished as Wybie hunched, somehow, even lower than usual. The knowledge that Coraline had friends other than him was going to take some getting used to. Though he knew it was a little paranoid of him, he was terrified of his one and only friend in this dismal town going off with her other, cooler, friends and forgetting about him and possibly getting a boyfri-

No. He was NOT going to go there. Again.

"Hey, Esther's not _that_ bad!" Coraline exclaimed, misinterpreting his expression.

Wybie thought quickly. "W-what? No, no, I just don't want to get caught in another round of," he shuddered, "_girl talk._"

She just shrugged, poking at the mysterious blob on her tray with a look of disgust.

"Kinda reminds me of your dad's cooking," Wybie remarked, the meatlike substance on Coraline's tray jiggling in a way meatlike substances probably weren't supposed to.

"I think it's alive," Coraline said, lifting the substance up with her spork and letting it flop back on the tray.

"Who knows?" Wybie leaned a little closer to the tray, peering at it.

"Run, Wybie!" Coraline exclaimed melodramatically, picking it up with the spork again and thrusting it at him. "It's going to eat you!"

Wybie leapt back in mock terror, shielding himself from Coraline's lunch with his hands.

At that moment, the bell rang. Coraline stood to dump her tray in the trash, "So, see you at the end of school?"

"Sure," He slung his backpack on his shoulder, "See you later, Jonesy."

"See you, Why-were-you-born." Coraline smirked at the receding back of her best friend. He'd be there at the end of the day to give her a ride home on his bike, of that she could be certain. That was Wybie for you, loyal to the bitter end.

* * *

Since the school bus arrived ridiculously early and dropped them off ridiculously late, Wybie and Coraline took it upon themselves to find alternate transportation, i.e.: Wybie's bike. A few minor tweaks had to be made to allow for a second person, but, hey, when you can build a working motorbike from scratch...

"Can you drop me off at Esther's?" Coraline asked, swinging her leg over the bike and setting her feet on the axle of the back tire, modified for that express purpose, and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Sure," Wybie replied, his voice slightly muffled by the skull mask. "Hold on."

A few pedals later, the motor roared to life and they were off.

**A/N: Well, what do you think? It's starting off a little slow, but I know where I'm going with this, and, trust me, it'll pick up. It's set two years after the movie, which, according to me, makes Coraline and Wybie freshmen in high school. This is my first real story, so please, tell me what I'm doing right and/or how I can improve. Also, I will be putting Author's Notes down at the bottom of the page. They're less distracting that way.**

**If you see any one of these symbols: * ~ €, let me know. They're formatting guides to help get around FanFiction removing everything from bold and italic to the separation of one paragraph from another. Yes, it's annoying, but, hey, at least I'm proofreading -_-**

**I own nothing but the plot and OCs.**


	2. Chapter 2

Esther was curled up in an armchair that resided in her father's private library, a copy of Alice in Wonderland in her lap. Across from the brunette was an ornate, full-length mirror reflecting her wide, hazel eyes. According to her father, it had been given to Queen What's-Her-Face as a birthday present from King Who-Knows-What, though she suspected his name was either George or Henry and was followed by a Roman numeral. Honestly, she didn't care. Whenever her father started rambling about these things, her hand had a nasty habit of switching her hearing aids off.

Now, however, she kind of wished she'd listened. That stupid mirror was really creeping her out, with its gothic silver frame glimmering in the light, causing the green gemstone eyes of the ornamental dragons at the corners to glint creepily. Queen What's-Her-Face certainly had weird taste, Esther could tell you that...

Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the unmistakeable sound of a motorbike outside. Esther leapt out of the armchair and ran to the window to see who it was. Down at the end of the driveway was a girl instantly distinguished by her blue hair as Coraline arguing with, what was his name? Oh yeah, Wybie, that weird kid whose grandma owned the Pink Palace. Clearly Queen What's-Her-Face wasn't the only one with weird taste. €After a few moments, during which Coraline seemed to be trying, apparently fruitlessly, to convince Wybie to come in with her, he flipped the visor of his mask down and pedaled off. Coraline threw her arms up in exasperation and walked up the driveway.

The door sprang open at almost exactly the same instant the doorbell rang, Esther flinging her arms around a startled Coraline. "Coraline, thank goodness. I was just about to die of boredom," she pulled away, leading her indoors, away from the fine drizzle that had just started up, "What's it like, going to school?"

"It's been okay, I guess," Coraline said, hanging her raincoat up on a peg by the door. "Still under house arrest?"

"Yeah," she flopped down onto the couch. "My fever broke a week ago, but Mom says I have to rest," Esther rolled her eyes, "At first, it was cool, but I have to admit the novelty's wearing off. It's just so _boring_."

"Yeah, I bet you're suffering _so_ much right now. After all, what could _possibly_ be interesting about a private museum chock full of strange and bizarre objects from around the world?"

Esther rolled her eyes, "Coraline, once you've seen one statue that looks like the head from one of those troll dolls surgically attached to a chicken's body, you've seen them all."

She threw her hands up in surrender, "If you say so."

The Cat leapt up from the floor into Coraline's lap. Not even batting an eyelash, she scratched him behind his ears. Esther wasn't so nonchalant.

"How'd he get in?" €Coraline looked down, seemingly surprised at the question. "The door?"

Esther frowned, but she'd learned that, with Coraline, certain questions would get her nonsensical or vague answers and no amount of pestering her about it would get her anywhere.

"So," the brown haired girl said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, "You want to see my dad's new piece of junk?"

"Sure," Coraline stood, the Cat yowling indignantly as she did so.

* * *

Wybie propped his bike against the side of his house, the peeling paint looking about as dismal and faded as anything else that bothered to stay in this miserable town long enough. Only Coraline seemed immune to it. In fact, she had started a bit of a trend at school with her blue hair...

Wybie went inside to get his slug hunting equipment.

**A/N: Behold, my first ever detailed OC. She was actually just supposed to be mentioned at the beginning, but then a glaring plot hole offered to go away if she played a bigger part in the story, so here she is.**

**Sorry about the long wait for so little. School decided to attack me in the form of a weekly journal set on sucking all the creative life out of me. I _did_ work on this when I could, but most of it was ironing out the plot holes and planning for future events, so no visible effects. The plot WILL pick up next chapter, though, so keep in touch!**


End file.
